Exercising just three times per week can help you lose weight. Put aside 15- 20 minutes if you are just starting out. Try to increase your workout to 45 to 60 minutes per workout. By exercising at low to moderate intensity you will burn less calories than high intensity such as sprinting. You can torch calories quicker by increasing your level of intensity. If you are just starting out take it slow. You will see progress if you are consistent.

Here is a workout to try: “A” for beginners, “B” is a bit higher intensity

Eat a healthy breakfast with some lean protein- maybe an egg white and veggie omelet and some fruit.

Skip the bread, it’s just empty calories.

Add lower calorie veggies to your plate. Turnips are a good choice at 51 calories per cup with potatoes ringing in at 214. Check with the host that they are not smothered with butter. Green beans have 44 calories per cup, much better than the casserole which has 341 calories and 22 grams of fat.

Avoid soda and alcoholic beverages. Instead have water or an herbal tea, maybe apple or pumpkin spice. Sweeten with a little honey or stevia. For a lower calories alcoholic beverage, try a white wine spritzer. It has about 96 calories. Add 4 oz. wine and 2 oz. club soda and a lemon for garnish.

For dessert, just have a little.

Your Plan for Friday: Kick up your cardio today! Go for a long run, bike ride or walk. Enjoy 3 servings of fruit today. Apples, berries and grapefruit are good choices.

Have a large green salad for one meal today, 2 meals would be better. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water.

Sprinting WILL help you burn fat and burn fat faster than a lower intensity workout such as jogging or going for a long run. Cardio fitness helps the heart to pump stronger and more efficiently and your muscles to use oxygen more efficiently. The pounding of weight-bearing activities like walking and running may cause more fat burning than a seated exercise like biking, or an activity like swimming where there is no pounding at all.
Professor James Timmons from the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh reports that sprinting “can boost the body’s metabolism sharply, helping to prevent weight gain and diabetes.” He states “sprinting not only burns calories during its duration, but greatly improves overall metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories even when not sprinting.”
According to the Mayo Clinic “within two months of starting, frequent aerobic exercise can increase HDL cholesterol by about 5 percent in otherwise healthy sedentary adults.” One study showed individuals who ran more than 50 miles per week had significantly greater increases in HDL cholesterol (good fat) and significantly greater decreases in body fat, triglyceride levels, and the risk of coronary heart disease than individuals who ran less than 10 miles per week. In addition, the long-distance runners had a nearly 50% reduction in high blood pressure and more than a 50% reduction in the use of medications to lower blood pressure and plasma cholesterol levels.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that all healthy adults should do the following:
1. Frequency of training: three to five days per week
2. Intensity of training: 55/65%-90% of maximum heart rate
3. Duration of training: 20-60 minutes of continuous or intermittent aerobic activity
4. Mode of activity: any activity that uses large muscle groups, which can be maintained continuously and is rhythmical and aerobic in nature (for example, walking-hiking, running-jogging, cycling, bicycling, cross-country skiing, aerobic dance/group exercise, rope skipping, rowing, stair climbing, swimming, skating, and various endurance game activities or some combination thereof).
Sprinting does have many health benefits, especially for your heart and lungs. Regular cardio exercise is key to keeping up with your overall health and fitness!

Pilates is a system of exercises that is designed to improve physical strength, flexibility and posture, and improve your mental awareness. Here are 5 reasons why you should start doing Pilates today.

1)Improved Flexibility- The constant bending and twisting throughout the day can cause a lot of stress on your muscles and joints. However, Pilates can correct this tension, allowing you to do the things you love. A flexible muscles is a healthy muscle, and a healthy muscle can handle stressors that may lead to injury.

2)Better Sleep- A stress hormone called cortisol is released following a stressful event; it is important that cortisol levels return to normal after. Unfortunately, in our high-stress society, the stress response is activated so often that the body does not always have a chance to return to normal. Exercise “eases” these hormones, allowing you to be more focused throughout the day, and tired at night. Pilates is great, because it doesn’t wear out your muscles, so there is no soreness later on.

3)Weight Loss– If you practice Pilates regularly, you will change your body. Pilates creates long, lean muscles. It may be low-impact, but it isn’t easy. Once you have the routine down, expect to work up a light sweat. The formula for weight loss however remains the same: burn more calories than you consume. And Pilates (being a full body workout) will do exactly that.

4)Lengthens the Spine and Improves Posture- Poor posture creates a string of structural changes throughout the body that can cause pain and imbalance in the shoulders and neck. This may cause migraines, neck, and lower back pain. Pilates targets the deep postural muscles creating a strong, aligned core.

5)Mind and Body Connection- Pilates practice gives complete attention to every movement by instructing the brain to release tension, control movement and breath with precision and flow.

A pool might not be the first place you think of going when you’re looking to shape up and slim down—but perhaps it should be. No other workout burns calories, boosts metabolism, and firms every muscle in your body (without putting stress on your joints) better than a swimming workout.

These are a few workouts if you’re interested in using the pool to get some exercise:

Backstroke: Eyes up. Look straight up at the sky or ceiling—not at your toes, which causes your hips to sink—so your head is in line with your spine. Make a Y. Reach back with each arm at a 45-degree angle to your body; it places less stress on your shoulders and makes your stroke stronger.

Freestyle is also fan favorite because it’s easy to learn and it burns major calories, as do all these exercises.The swimming pool is a great place to burn calories and build muscle. If you’re a generally adventurous person, swim workouts can also be very helpful should you ever be in a situation where they can be applied to safety.

HIIT, (High intensity interval training) is a form of cardio training that involves cycles of high intensity bursts and low to moderate intensity recovery. This cardio workout is said to burn fat not only faster but more efficiently than that of a low intensity cardio workout such as jogging or going for a long run. This is because the higher intensity allows the body to burn fat faster in total than at lower intensity routines, although the ratio of fat to glycogen ratio is lower. Additionally, there’s also an ‘after burn’ effect known as EPOC (excess-post exercise oxygen consumption). This increases your metabolism and burns more calories for up to 24 hours after interval training.